WHITTIER – Pit bulls Sluggo and Pebbles slept in the bed with their owners, went trick-or-treating in costume and didn’t bat an eyelid when their master’s kids rode them like ponies.

They were adopted as puppies from the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority which doesn’t have any record of incidents or complaints about the dogs, according to spokesman Capt. Aaron Reyes.

On April 24, Sluggo and Pebbles escaped from the back yard of their new home on Nanry Street and ended up on Mystic Street. Norwalk Station Deputy Daren Jaramillo responding to a call about a white and brown pit bull chasing people up and down the street in this unincorporated county neighborhood used his service gun to shoot Sluggo in the chest. The brown-and-white pit bull later died.

Sheriff’s officials said the dog attacked Jaramillo and that the two pit bulls later attacked two other deputies.

But their version is disputed by a resident on Mystic Street who saw the entire incident. The woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation, said the two dogs weren’t lunging or attacking and were running toward the only way out of a cul de sac.

“He panicked and he pulled his gun,” she said, adding that the deputy later apologized.

“He said, `I’m sorry that had to happen. I’m a dog lover too. He said the dog was coming at him,” she said.

She disagreed.

Marine Staff Sgt. Nicholas Marquez, who owns Pebbles, believes Sluggo was shot and killed simply for being a pit bull. Marquez was activated and came back from Iraq in 2009.

“Neither of these dogs were aggressive. It’s unfortunate pit bulls have a bad name or rep,” he said. He thinks it would have been a different outcome if the call was about two golden retrievers.

“I wish they would have handled the situation differently.”

He said the deputy should have waited for animal control. He has no plans to sue but he wants an apology.

Sluggo was owned by Marquez’s former girlfriend, Ashley Botts, and his father, retired Deputy David Marquez who worked at Norwalk Station. David Marquez died last month. Botts didn’t want to split up the dogs when she moved to Washington state so she decided Sluggo would stay in California.

Officials said the station is conducting an administrative investigation on whether Jaramillo violated policy. Their version of the shooting hasn’t changed.

The investigation is ongoing.

Lt. Steve Kenny was the watch commander during the 4:05 p.m. shooting and wrote a summary of the incident. He said Jaramillo was attacked by the brown pit bull and fired one round from his Beretta 92F, hitting the dog in the chest.

The woman who witnessed the shooting said the pit bulls were earlier barking at one of her dogs which her son put inside the house. By the time two deputies arrived, the pit bulls were by her gate sniffing.

The deputy who came out of the passenger side, later identified as Jaramillo, was shaking what looked like a can of mace, she said. The dogs heard the noise of the shaking can and trotted toward the deputies.

“I think they surprised him because there’s a bush there. The driver was just coming from the back of the car, (when) the passenger shot the dog. The dog was not lunging, barking or growling,” she said.

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.

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